Fingertips
by thesilentlamb
Summary: A short moment between Castle and Beckett, set sometime after the season 3 finale.
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a little moment between Castle and Beckett set sometime after the season 3 finale.**

**I don't own anything Castle related etc.**

**Hope you enjoy this!**

It is quiet in the loft. The movie ended some time ago, and Beckett felt Castle shift forwards to reach the controls to shut off the TV. She is lying with her head pillowed in his lap; he is relaxing back into the cushions and gently stroking her hair out of her face. She knows he thinks she's asleep.

His hand moves smoothly over her temples, his fingertips moving the strands of hair away from her eyes and sweeping them behind her ear, his palm moving down over her neck and coming to rest on the place it meets her shoulder, pausing, and then travelling back up to her hairline again. She doesn't know how long he has been doing it for but she doesn't want him to stop, and she hasn't moved a muscle since he started.

It is a comforting movement. Gentle, familial, friendly. _Chaste_.

Except they both know it is anything but. The goosebumps threatening to rise over her skin tell a different story.

She hears him sigh and she knows there is a change, a shift coming in their status quo. For the last few months it has all been about _her_. Her need to heal physically and emotionally. Her need to get over the breakup with Josh, the loss of her Captain, and her need to build the strength to delve back into her mother's case once more. But tonight, tonight it is about _him._

It has been too long since she considered, really considered what he must be feeling. She knows that she remembers his words correctly, that what he uttered as she lay in his arms bleeding was not a dream. She knows he has suffered as much as she has. Perhaps not physically, but painfully nonetheless. For a man she had pegged as a playboy he has certainly been the victim of his own selflessness.

She knows the hand moving across her hair is the touch of a lover.

And that is why when he gently lifts her head to move her off his lap so he can stand, she stands with him instead of feigning sleep and letting him leave her there covered with the throw again. It is why she doesn't say a word when he leans over and bolts the door with a finality that brooks no argument. It is why she utters no protest when he takes her by the hand and leads her up the stairs; not to the guest room as usual, but to his own bedroom. It is why she allows him to guide her to bed.

It is why when she feels him lie down behind her, bury his face in her hair and slide an arm round her waist, she does nothing except cover the hand resting on her stomach with her own.

It's not about her anymore. It's not even about him.

It's about _them._

**So – what did you think? I'm in the UK so no season 4 until January – I need reviews to get me through until then!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I was a little overwhelmed by the reviews to the first chapter of this! This is the same but from Castle's POV. Probably not taking this any further though - 'moments' are what I do best.**

**Still own nothing.**

Castle gazes down at the sleeping woman in his lap. He doesn't know how long ago he shut off the TV but it has been a while. He doesn't want to move, to wake her and have her leave, _again_. He is far too comfortable like this, and if this is the closest he can get to her staying the night with him, _actually_ with him, not asleep in his guest room or on the couch, he'll take it.

He runs his fingers through her hair, revelling in the softness and the fact that she hasn't slapped his hand away or moved her head. He fits his palm to the curve where head meets neck and neck meets shoulder. She is soft and hard, solid and fragile. So strong, and yet so breakable, all at once. It hurts him so much that he can't be there for in the way he wants to be, that she simply refuses to see what is there between them. But he cannot walk away. He looks down at her again and feels another little piece of his heart chip away as she claims it for her own. He knows that with the exception of the parts reserved for Mother and Alexis, his heart is hers and he doubts he will ever get it back.

He sighs, and feels an almost imperceptible movement from her. In that moment he decides. Enough. She needed time and he has given it to her in bucket loads. Now whatever it takes, she needs to see what she is doing to him. And she needs to see it _now._

He stands, shifting her head off his lap and is surprised when she sleepily climbs to her feet as well. He moves to lock the door, to silently inform her that she is going nowhere. Her only response is a look that makes his chest tighten and his breath escape in a rush. When he takes her hand and leads her to his bed, he feels for the first time that she might actually want him to take the lead, to protect her and keep her safe from harm, from herself. And when he fits his body around hers and inhales the scent at the back of her neck he knows that they have turned a corner and that this isn't the same dance they have been performing for months, years even. It is the beginning of something new.

He smiles.

**Hope it works. Let me know what you think.**


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